THE BOATMAN'S CALL (1997)
into my arms
I don't believe in an interventionist God
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Not to touch a hair on your head
To leave you as you are
And if He felt He had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
And I don't believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you I wonder if that's true
But if I did I would summon them together
And ask them to watch over you
To each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk, like Christ, in grace and love
And guide you into my arms
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
But I believe in Love
And I know that you do too
And I believe in some kind of path
That we can walk down, me and you
So keep your candles burning
And make her journey bright and pure
That she will keep returning
Always and evermore
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
lime-tree arbour
The boatman calls from the lake
A lone loon dives upon the water
I put my hand over hers,
Down in the lime-tree arbour
The wind in the trees is whispering
Whispering low that I love her
She puts her hand over mine
Down in the lime-tree arbour
Through every breath that I breathe
And every place I go
There is a hand that protects me
And I do love her so
There will always be suffering
It flows through life like water
I put my hand over hers
Down in the lime-tree arbour
The boatman he has gone
And the loons have flown for cover
She puts her hand over mine
Down in the lime-tree arbour
Through every word that I speak
And every thing I know
There is a hand that protects me
And I do love her so
people ain't no good
People just ain't no good
I think that's well understood
You can see it everywhere you look
People just ain't no good
We were married under cherry trees
Under blossom we made our vows
All the blossoms come sailing down
Through the streets and through the playgrounds
The sun would stream on the sheets
Awoken by the morning bird
We'd buy the Sunday newspapers
And never read a single word
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
Seasons came, seasons went
The winter stripped the blossoms bare
A different tree now lines the streets
Shaking its fists in the air
The winter slammed us like a fist
The windows rattling in the gales
To which she drew the curtains
Made out of her wedding veils
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
To our love send a dozen white lilies
To our love send a coffin of wood
To our love let all the pink-eyed pigeons coo
That people they just ain't no good
To our love send back all the letters
To our love a valentine of blood
To our love let all the jilted lovers cry
That people they just ain't no good
It ain't in their hearts they're bad
They can comfort you, some even try
They nurse you when you're ill of health
They bury you when you go and die
It ain't that in their hearts they're bad
They'd stick by you if they could
But that's just bullshit
People just ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
brompton oratory
Up those stone steps I climb
Hail this joyful day's return
Into its great shadowed vault I go
Hail the Pentecostal morn
The reading is from Luke 24
Where Christ returns to his loved ones
I look at the stone apostles
Think that it's alright for some
And I wish that I was made of stone
So that I would not have to see
A beauty impossible to define
A beauty impossible to believe
A beauty impossible to endure
The blood imparted in little sips
The smell of you still on my hands
As I bring the cup up to my lips
No God up in the sky
No devil beneath the sea
Could do the job that you did
Of bringing me to my knees
Outside I sit on the stone steps
With nothing much to do
Forlorn and exhausted, baby
By the absence of you
there is a kingdom
Just like a bird
That sings up the sun
In a dawn so very dark
Such is my faith for you
Such is my faith
And all the world's darkness
Can't swallow up
One single spark
Such is my love for you
Such is my love
There is a kingdom
There is a king
And He lives without
and He lives within
The starry heavens above me
The moral law within
So the world appears
So the world appears
This day so sweet
It will never come again
So the world appears
Through this mist of tears
There is a kingdom
There is a king
And He lives without
And He lives within
And He is everything
(are you) the one that i've been waiting for?
I've felt you coming, girl, as you drew near
I knew you'd find me, 'cause I longed you here
Are you my destiny? Is this how you'll appear?
Wrapped in a coat with tears in your eyes?
Well take that coat, babe, and throw it on the floor
Are you the one that I've been waiting for?
As you've been moving surely toward me
My soul has comforted and assured me
That in time my heart it will reward me
And that all will be revealed
So I've sat and I've watched an ice-age thaw
Are you the one that I've been waiting for?
Out of sorrow entire worlds have been built
Out of longing great wonders have been willed
They're only little tears, darling, let them spill
And lay your head upon my shoulder
Outside my window the world has gone to war
Are you the one that I've been waiting for?
O we will know, won't we?
The stars explode in the sky
O but they don't, do they?
Stars have their moment and then they die
There's a man who spoke wonders
Though I've never met him
He said, "He who seeks finds
And who knocks will be let in"
I think of you in motion
And just how close you are getting
And how every little thing anticipates you
All down my veins my heart-string call
Are you the one that I've been waiting for?
where do we go now but nowhere?
I remember a girl so very well
The carnival drums all mad in the air
Grim reapers and skeletons and a missionary bell
O where do we go now but nowhere?
In a colonial hotel we fucked up the sun
And then we fucked it down again
Well the sun comes up and the sun goes down
Going 'round and around to nowhere
The kitten that padded and purred on my lap
Now swipes at my face with the paw of a bear
I turn the other cheek and you lay into that
O where do we go now but nowhere?
O wake up, my love, my lover, wake up
O wake up, my love, my lover, wake up
Across clinical benches with nothing to talk
Breathing tea and biscuits and the Serenity Prayer
While the bones of our child crumble like chalk
O where do we go now but nowhere?
I remember a girl so bold and so bright
Loose-limbed and laughing and brazen and bare
Sits gnawing her knuckles in the chemical light
O where to we go now but nowhere?
You come for me now with a cake that you've made
Ravaged avenger with a clip in your hair
Full of glass and bleach and my old razor blades
O where do we go now but nowhere?
O wake up, my love, my lover, wake up
O wake up, my love, my lover, wake up
If they'd give me my clothes back then I could go home
From this fresh, this clean, antiseptic air
Behind the locked gates an old donkey moans
O where do we go now but nowhere?
Around the duck pond we grimly mope
Gloomily and mournfully we go round again
And one more doomed time and without much hope
Going 'round and around to nowhere
From the balcony we watched the carnival band
The crack of the drum a little child did scare
I can still feel his tiny fingers pressed in my hand
O where do we go now but nowhere?
If I could relive one day of my life
If I could relive just a single one
You on the balcony, my future wife
O who could have known, but no one?
O wake up, my love, my lover, wake up
O wake up, my love, my lover, wake up
west country girl
With a crooked smile
And a heart-shaped face
Comes from the West country
Where the birds sing bass
She's got a house-big heart
Where we all live
And plead and counsel and forgive
Her widow's peak, her lips I've kissed
Her glove of bones at her wrist
That I have held in my hand
Her Spanish fly and her monkey gland
Her Godly body and its fourteen stations
That I have embraced, her palpitations
Her unborn child crying, "Mummy"
Amongst the rubble of her body
Her lovely lidded eyes I've sipped
Her fingernails, all pink and chipped
Her accent which I'm told is "broad"
That I have heard and has been poured
Into my human heart and filled me
With love, up to the brim, and killed me
And rebuilt me back anew
With something to look forward to
Well, who could ask much more than that?
A West country girl with a big fat cat
That looks into her eyes of green
And meows, "He loves you," then meows again
black hair
Last night my kisses
Were blanked in black hair
And in my bed, my lover,
Her hair was midnight black
And all her mystery dwelled
Within her black hair
And her black hair framed
A happy heart-shaped face
And heavy-hooded eyes
Inside her black hair
Shined at me from the depths
Of her hair of deepest black
While my fingers pushed into
Her straight black hair
Pulling her black hair back
From her happy heart-shaped face
To kiss her milk-white throat,
A dark curtain of black hair
Smothered me, my lover
With her beautiful black hair
The smell of it is heavy
It is charged with life
On my fingers lingers the smell
Of her deep black hair
Full of all my whispered words,
Her black hair
And wet with tears and good-byes,
Her hair of deepest black
All my tears cried against
Her milk-white throat
Hidden behind the curtain
Of her beautiful black hair
As deep as ink and black,
Black as the deepest sea
The smell of her black hair
Upon my pillow
Where her head and all its
Black hair did rest
Today she took a train to the West
Today she took a train to the West
Today she took a train to the West
idiot prayer
They're taking me down, my friend
And as they usher me off to my end
Will I bid you adieu?
Or will I be seeing you soon?
If what they say around here is true
Then we'll meet again
Me and you
My time is at hand, my dove
They're gonna pass me to that house above
Is Heaven just for victims, dear?
Where only those in pain go?
Well it takes two to tango
We will meet again, my love
I know
If you're in Heaven then you'll forgive me, dear
Because that's what they do up there
But if you're in Hell, then what can I say
You probably deserved it anyway
I guess I'm gunna find out any day
For we will meet again
And there'll be Hell to pay
Your face comes to me from the depths, dear
Your silent mouth mouths, "Yes", dear
Dark red and big with blood
They're gunna shut me down, my love
They're gunna launch me into the stars
Well, all things come to pass
Yeah, Glory Hallelujah
This prayer is for you, my love
Sent on the wings of a dove
An idiot prayer of empty words
Love, dear, is strictly for the birds
We each get what we deserve
My little snow white dove
Rest assured
far from me
For you, dear, I was born
For you I was raised up
For you I've lived and for you I will die
For you I'm dying now
You were my mad little lover
In a world where everybody fucks everybody else over
You who are so
Far from me
So far from me
Way across some cold neurotic sea
Far from me
I would talk to you of all manner things
With a smile you would reply
Then the sun would leave your pretty face
And you'd retreat from the front of your eyes
I keep hearing that you're doing your best
I hope your heart beats happy
In your infant breast
You are so far from me
Far from me
Far from me
There is no knowledge but I know it
There's nothing to learn from that vacant voice
That sails to me across the line
From the ridiculous to the sublime
It's good to hear you're doing so well
But really can't you find somebody else that you can ring and tell
Did you ever care for me?
Were you ever there for me?
So far from me
You told me you'd stick by me
Through the thick and through the thin
Those were your very words
My fair-weathered friend
You were my brave-hearted lover
At the first taste of trouble went running back to mother
So far from me
Far from me
Suspended in your bleak and fishless sea
Far from me
Far from me
green eyes
Kiss me again, rekiss me and kiss me
Slip your frigid hands beneath my shirt
This useless old fucker with his twinkling cunt
Doesn't care if he gets hurt
Green eyes, green eyes
Green eyes, green eyes
If it were but a matter of faith
If it were measured in petitions and prayer
She would materialize, all fleshed out
But it is not, nor do I care
Green eyes, green eyes
Green eyes, green eyes
So hold me and hold me, don't tell me your name
This morning will be wiser than this evening is
Then leave me to my enemied dreams
And be quiet as you are leaving, Miss
Green eyes, green eyes
Green eyes, green eyes
